


The Whisper Box

by janaaier



Series: The Whisper Box Series [1]
Category: Boice, Kpop - Fandom
Genre: Other, cnblue, cnblue fan fiction, kpop, kpop fan fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2018-12-21 07:53:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11939664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janaaier/pseuds/janaaier
Summary: Welcome to the Whisper Box.We touch, we hold, we heal.





	1. Lovely Minhyuk

Introduction - The Whisper Box

_In my line of work, I see the most outrageous, strange and bizarre things. I like it this way. Strange and bizarre aren’t given room to be in our world. I think the outrageous is beautiful and real. You see, I help people. I see individuals who don’t want to be seen. I talk to people who don’t know how to talk. I touch, I hold, I heal. People come to me for these services. This is why I’m used to the stranger things. A boy asked to be given compliments on his appearance in different voices recently. Another one, a girl, just wanted me to brush her hair for an hour and sing to her. One couple asked me to talk them out of breaking up and they made love in front of me. I’ve had people come in for five minutes and some for five hours. My name is Nayana. I am not a counsellor or a mother or a hairdresser, I’m not a guardian or a prostitute but I am also all of these things._

## Chapter One – Minhyuk   

He was sitting at the big reception desk in front of the consultation room across a small faced woman with severe bird-like features, a sharp nose, sharp eyes, a sharp face. She was looking at him as if she knew him and it made him uneasy. But of course she knew him, he was the famous face of a well-known pop rock unit. He took a sip of the ice cold water placed in front of him and felt it rush to his brain. 

“So there’s no way any of this comes out?”

“The only way it comes out is if you take it out, sir.”

She smiled, her smile was not so severe.

“And you say a lot of people, people I may know, do this?”

“You’d be surprised just how many.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I feel so weird, it’s not like I’m doing anything perverse.”

“This is not a place where you will ever be judged, even if you were doing something perverse.”

Her smile was more of a giggle this time. She had been doing this for a while, he could tell. She couldn’t understand why he was so on edge and it made Minhyuk laugh a little that he felt this ashamed about doing this. The sharp faced woman stood up and disappeared behind the large double doors that led to the consultation room.

She opened the door and found Nayana standing behind the counter and slurping on a hot cup of coffee, her phone in her free hand.

“Nayana, the 4 o’clock friend date is here.”

“Come on, what kind of person is this? I’m still having my coffee and he’s on time? ”

“Yeah, and he’s really good looking.”

“They’re all good looking, Van.”

“He’s also tall.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

They shared a familiar laugh and Van slipped out of the room while Nayana ran to brush her teeth.

She came back seconds later with her child-like unsharp smile and told him Nayana would be seeing him now. He stood up, a little nervous and a little conflicted and walked through the doors.

The room was warm and cosy, just as he’d asked. There was a little coffee table with a projector set on it, the projector look old and used, like it belonged to a family of film lovers. The coffee table was made of palettes. On the side, on the wooden counter, stood a coffee machine and a popcorn maker, there were also snacks and wine and beer. Minhyuk felt at ease looking around this room. A young woman came in from the other side of the room, she was wearing all white clothing, oversized and comfortable, and looked cosy, just as he’d asked.

Minhyuk’s thoughts came back to him. For a second, taking in the room, he’d forgotten what he was here for. He’d forgotten he came here to do something, that he’d asked for this whole setup.

“So, what happened to your arm?” The girl asked. Her face was pleasant. He saw that she could be anything from cute to sensual depending on her mood, her features allowed for it. Most of all she was warm.

“Work accident.”

“What kind of work accident?”

“I fell…”

“You were wrestling at ISAC.”

“Yeah, I was wrestling at ISAC,” he was embarrassed but not in the way he was when he told his parents or doctor. She nodded and smiled at the same time and he felt okay about it. He could have sworn he heard her mumble ‘You’re too old to be wrestling at ISAC’ and it made him feel even more okay.

“What movie do you want to watch? I have everything.”

“I don’t know. Anything you’d watch on a rainy day.”

“Perfect, that’s one of my favourite genres. I’ll find us something. You can get yourself something to drink in the meantime, grab some popcorn or another snack.”

Minhyuk found himself walking over to the counter, without much thought or feeling, and looking for something to drink. The room, which seemed so big and dome-like before, felt small and the ceilings felt lower. He took out two stemless wine glasses from the cabinet and gave them a quick rinse. He found himself thinking about which chips and sweets he felt like eating and whether Nayana would like the choices too. He looked over at her looking through the DVD boxes, she didn’t even care that he was a stranger, she didn’t care that the year was 2016 and DVDs were no longer a thing. She had such beautiful black hair. 

“Minhyuk.”

“Yes.”

“Could you please bring me some wine as well.”

“Oh, sure of course.”

“Thank you,” she dragged the last bit of the word so long it reached him and bothered him, and he wanted to tell her to stop.

“Do you want to talk about your day, your week, your year?”

“No, thank you. I’d rather just watch the movie.”

He hoped he didn’t sound rude but his arm was injured and he was a drummer so he was feeling frustrated.

“Thank god, you look like you’re about to cry.”

Mihyuk laughed a little, he didn’t even know why. The movie was starting and he went over to join her on the couch. She scooted closer to him, but not too much.  It was just enough for him to smell her and to feel the heat from her body. Minhyuk enjoyed this smell and strangely wanted more of the heat. This is all he could register for the first few minutes of the movie.

She, on the other hand, was having a great time. This client was quiet and agreeable and all she had to do was hang out with him. He was handsome, but not the most handsome she’d dealt with. Friendly but not the most friendly, neither was he the tallest nor the most anything really. He was good and enough. It was his smile that made her glad she wasn’t dealing with a narcissist or a sociopath today. The boy had a lovely, pure and admittedly charming smile. She’d be watching a movie next to a laid back guy with a broken arm and a beautiful smile, who was just lonely.

Nayana noticed that he wasn’t really present for almost 15 minutes of the movie and she let him gather his thoughts in peace. By the time he had his first reaction to what they were watching, Nayana had almost completely forgotten she was with someone. She had finished her glass of wine and the snacks in front of her. Nayana was so glad to see him participate she looked over at him and gave him a big encouraging grin, before getting up to refill both the their glasses. He smiled back at her like he knew she'd been waiting for him to finally join her. And his eyes followed her all the way to the counter; soft footsteps, gentle curves, palpable magnetism. When she came back, she sat on the floor in front of him, almost leaning on his leg. He flinched a little but after a few minutes, his legs found themselves wanting to cradle her head. At some point he playfully used the top of her head as a table for his glass. They laughed about it. They laughed about the same things in the movie too, and sighed and reacted and had little chats throughout. She thought he had the sweetest eyes and a delightful face.

Minhyuk went to fetch the third glass of wine, they had finished the popcorn and he didn’t feel like having any more candy. He walked over to the where she was sitting, slid down and sat himself between Nayana and the sofa. He had no idea how she would react or how natural it would feel but Nayana scooted back towards him a little more and rested her body against his. Minhyuk buried his face in her neck and took in her scent while wrapping his hands around her. Nayana held the arms that were now resting on her lap and started to slowly caress them. Minhyuk felt the sensitivity of her touch on the hairs on his forearm, and between that beautiful comforting touch and that sweet hot scent, he found himself falling asleep and having no thoughts of the world outside of that door.


	2. Burning Jonghyun

## Chapter Two – Burning Jonghyun

The day was a dreadful and cold one and not the type of day anybody would wish to be working at twelve in the middle of the night but winter was Nayana’s busiest time of the year. People were cold and lonely and desperate for companionship. It was also the season that required more food and drink and sensitivity. Van and Nayana would be at the office until midnight on a good day.

“Nayana will see you now,” whispered Van.

Jonghyun was on the phone and he nodded at Van while he tried to wrap up the call. As soon as he dropped the phone he went over to Van and apologised for taking long. She gave him a polite emotionless smile, told him he was the last person that day anyway and led him to the consultation room.

Jonghyun walked into a familiar setup; a bed, a bar and a beautiful woman. He had been seeing Nayana for years but only during the winter time. Once he had started, following Yonghwa’s suggestion one drunken night, he hadn’t really been able to stop. He and Yonghwa were drinking one night back when they still lived in the dorm together. Their bandmates were out that night, out of the country or out of town, he couldn’t remember. There were four empty bottles of soju on the table in the sitting area, and two that were half full. As far as he remembered, Yonghwa had drank most of the alcohol but he was definitely also drunk. They were talking about the stresses of their job, the long hours, the demands, the loneliness. He remembers laughing about how drinking and smoking had become his only vices and how ridiculous it is that they couldn’t date, even if they wanted to.

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Yonghwa had said.

“What? Yes, it does. What am I supposed to do, quit? Because that’s the only solution in this business at our level.”

“Not necessarily,” Yonghwa added nonchalantly.

“You’re not making any sense.”

Jonghyun was starting to feel sleepy and wasn’t in the mood for a deep lesson on taking the good with the bad and making the most out of every situation.

“There’s this place… there’s a girl I see there…” Yonghwa trailed off and poured himself and Jonghyun another round of shots.

Jonghyun felt annoyed, Yonghwa was being cryptic again and nobody needed more shots. He stood up to go to his room.

“I know a place you can go to, to feel better, Jonghyun.”

He had reluctantly sat down and Yonghwa told him the story of how an older staff member had slipped him Nayana’s card and how his visits there had helped him deal with a lot of the pressures of his job.

It had taken Jonghyun months of contemplation but one cold and especially hard night he drank himself into a stupor and called the number on the card. Van had answered and within an hour, she had fetched him and taken him to Nayana’s. Jonghyun remembers that night like it was yesterday. He remembers coming in and seeing Nayana in her pyjamas, he remembers Nayana’s knowing smile. He remembers strongly wanting to knock her boots and her welcoming it and how sweet she was to him, and he remembers resting in her arms afterwards in the most comfortable bed he’d ever slept on. Ever since that night, he had not been able to complete a winter season without coming in.

Nayana was laying on the bed in an oversized shirt. If she had to name an item of clothing that she absolutely hated, it would have to be the oversized shirt. A large number of her clients asked her to wear this outfit and a few of them even sent their own shirts beforehand to be worn at their arrival. She had worn a white oversized shirt a total of 208 times. Nayana had a just-opened beer in her hand and when Jonghyun walked in she gave a wide smile and threw the bottle opener at him. He caught it instinctively from way across the room.

“Don’t throw the beer, please,” he started, lazily.

I won’t. I was waking you up,” she paused for an exasperated sigh, “are you okay? Come here.” Nayana opened the bed covers and playfully caressed the spot next to her.

“No, we won’t be needing the bed today,” Jonghyun was walking to the bar.

“We won’t?” Nayana’s tone was disappointed and a little annoyed. She hadn’t mentally and even physically prepared herself to be hit against hard objects. This appointment was supposed to be all about a bed and a bar.

Jonghyun looked over to her, she was still on the bed and not very enthused, he never understood a lot of her emotions and facial expressions but he was glad she had some.

“It’s really not what you think,” he added to the silence.

“You’re going to have to speak up and tell me what you need, I don’t read minds, as much my looks would have you believe I do,” she walked over to the bar area, downing her beer.

Jonghyun wasn’t sure what about Nayana made this whole thing feel normal. Maybe it was her relatable face or the fact that she didn’t look at him like he was special. It could have been how she could outdrink him or how beautiful her body was without clothes on.

“I just want to drink today, Nayana. I just want to sit, talk shit and drink.”

“I know that, that’s what you do all the time and then after that, you always want to see me naked.”

“Not today. We’re just drinking today. I’m trying to break this habit – ”

“Really?” He hadn’t even finished his answer and she had already run across the room to the bar and taken out a bottle of soju. “I love friend dates! Friend dates mean soju bombs!”

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this excited. I can’t help but feel a little insulted,” he looked at her and faked a cute frown.

In return he received Nayana’s sweet eyes, “Don’t be silly. Come and join me and let’s get positively wasted tonight,” she pointed at the soju bombs she had lined up on the counter.

Jonghyun walked over to her and sat right by her side on a stool. They ate and drank a lot and chatted the night away with no shortage of laughs, it was like it always was. Nayana was as alluring and endearing to him as ever, with her carefree cackle and her familiar mannerisms – a funny toast, a mocking stare, a hand on the knee. It must have been the warmth of the alcohol surging through his body and the heat of the room with two people who knew each other’s bodies well but Jonghyun found himself leading Nayana to bed anyway at the end of the visit. He was very glad he did; it was as great as any amazing thing you only got to do once a year. There were a few things he looked forward to more than Nayana during a cold winter night. It was a sweet sweet habit he couldn’t shake.


	3. Chapter Three - Emotional Yonghwa

## Chapter Three - Emotional Yonghwa

There were clients Nayana had had for more years than she had been in relationships. There are people who were in her very first client list who she still saw even it was infrequently. Nayana’s first year of work was not so busy and she only had one page of people she met in her old consultation room before she could afford this horribly big penthouse one. It was still very shaky and taboo to be in her line of work ten years ago, people often misunderstood what she did and offered. The people who visited Nayana were only the brave and desperate and carefree and most of them were women. She afforded a support system not afforded to female stars as much as it was to their male counterparts. Nayana developed a very authentic bond with those young people all those years ago, both male and female. A lot of them were now married and no longer needed the comfort or companionship or counselling. But two or three still remained and took her as a true friend and confidante. One of these two or three was Jung Yonghwa.

When Yonghwa started seeing Nayana, he seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders and that is a thing that never really left him even a decade later. At that time, Yonghwa was working on multiple projects between Korea and Japan, doing everything from his music to acting and CFs and on top of all that, he was the group leader and ha to take care of three other young men. Nayana was tasked with helping him manage his worries and stresses emotionally, she had the duty of making sure that he was able to handle everything without crashing and burning. She was like an invisible staff member; Yonghwa had managers and makeup artists and voice coaches for his professional life and Nayana for his personal life.

On a weekday afternoon, on the anniversary of their first meeting, Yonghwa visited Nayana for a little celebration. This is something he did all the time; he also visited on Valentine’s day if he was alone and on other special days if he wasn’t busy. Yonghwa was very sentimental that way and very sweet about things like that. He and Van were having a fat chat on the rooftop over a coffee while Nayana wrapped up with another client.

“I should just go in there and tell this person to leave. Tell her, hey I’ve known Nayana for ten years  and it’s my time now!”

Van laughed, Yonghwa is the only person who ever really got to see Van genuinely laugh.

“You know I would have to stop you right? I’d have to drag you out, Yonghwa,” she said. She blew at her coffee and her hard little face became softened by the haze of steam coming from the cup, making her look like a lovely dream under the afternoon sun. Even though Van was joking, a person who didn’t know her wouldn’t know this, “She’ll be done soon though, don’t worry. But you get to hang out with me in the meantime, aren’t you happy?”

She turned her sharp eyes to him before taking another sip, her demeanour was menacing and adorable.

“Of course. You’re my favourite part of these visits, little Van.”

Just as Van was about to answer, her phone rang and it was Nayana on the other side. She had finished with her meeting and was waiting on Yonghwa. Yonghwa entered the consultation room to find a beautiful dinner setup with all his favourite foods. Nayana’s smile was like what you would get if you came home after a long trip away at war; bright, familiar, full of feeling, and Yonghwa was so happy to see it.

Most of the time when Nayana was super comfortable with clients it was half her unrelenting confidence and professionalism and half an act. She didn’t truly know these people but it had to seem like she did, she had to make them feel at ease and like she’s known them for a lifetime. This wasn’t the case with Yonghwa, she had known him for a very long time and her calmness was never put on, she never even had to emotionally prepare herself for him. They sat at the table and ate their hot meal, Yonghwa catching Nayana up on everything that was happening in his life and Nayana nodding and listening attentively to her dearest friend. 


End file.
